Teacher: it’s okay to have a bad day at school

Parents are sharing social media posts warning against school bullying, but we should not panic if a pupil has a bad day or feels bored in class.

This is the view of Annika Restorff Holm, a teacher at Tórshavn’s Lítliskúli school, who recently shared her thoughts on respect, personal boundaries and bullying at school on her Facebook profile.

Her post reads as follows:

“Thousands of children are starting school this week to learn a great deal about life and about themselves.

One very important thing for these children to learn is that not everything revolves around themselves, but rather that they are part of a community where it is important to listen to others – adults as well as children – and realise that other people must be given a chance to voice their thoughts.

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Not everything will go your way all of the time, and that is fine! It is also okay to feel a bit sad sometimes without having to call your parents if you get a small scratch, if you left a book at home or if you’re not happy with the contents of your lunch box. Tomorrow is another day and things may get better!

Not every day at school will be the most exciting day ever, and that is fine! There will be boring moments – perhaps even quite a few of them. In such moments it is important that you remember what your parents have taught you about respecting others so that you do not disturb your classmates when they are focusing on learning.

It is important to learn about empathy, to understand each other’s emotions and read people’s facial expressions, to set your own personal boundaries while also respecting other people’s boundaries.

Learn to communicate your feelings and remember that you are exactly the person you should be: nobody can do everything and everybody can do something. This is something we will all learn.

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You will also learn that not all teaching takes place in front of a screen. Sometimes the teaching consists of a boring textbook instead of a dancing cow on your iPad. You cannot simply ‘scroll away’ the teacher if you want something more exciting. The teacher is there for a reason – to help you learn.

Let's all speak positively about the school, the teachers, the parents and the children.

Let us show compassion and respect to one another. If we truly learn these values, school bullying will be a thing of the past.

I wish all schoolchildren a wonderful and fruitful school term.”

Read the Faroese version of this article here.

Translated by prosa.fo.

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